Not that most Americans needed more reasons to question the actions and motives of the FBI’s leadership, but this week brought more hearings and testimony from Director Christopher Wray that illuminated how officials flaunt common legal processes in their pursuit of partisan goals.
To be clear, the rank-and-file men and women of the FBI who valiantly defend the United States and fight for law and order are heroes. What’s been exposed doesn’t implicate these brave Americans who stand against chaos and seek to uphold the nation’s laws. The truth is they deserve better than the leadership Biden has installed.
We already knew how the FBI and DOJ seized on concerned parents at school board meetings, smearing them as domestic terror threats at the behest of the National School Boards Association.
We watched as the FBI ignored the illegal intimidation of Supreme Court justices last summer and turned a blind eye for months to violent attacks on pro-life organizations.
We saw the FBI conduct an armed raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate while there was a careful and quiet collection of classified documents from President Joe Biden’s home.
But on Wednesday, Americans heard — directly from Director Wray — how their private banking records, including for firearm purchases, are received by the FBI “all the time,” no warrant needed, reportedly based on inquiries from the FBI.
In a feeble attempt to minimize the gravity of his admission, Wray explained that such private bank records — such as those provided to the FBI by Bank of America — are turned over when there is suspicion of criminal activity.
But that attempt to explain away criticism for such practices reveals how the FBI under Biden — and its partners in the financial sector — view Americans and their God-given rights: as criminal and suspicious.
There is, of course, nothing illegal or suspicious about a law-abiding citizen purchasing ammunition or a firearm for sport or protection. In fact, it’s a right protected by the Constitution, the same one the FBI’s leadership swore an oath to support and defend.
Wray’s testimony also saw him unable to answer some pressing questions — even when asked by Democrats who are typically deferential to the Biden administration’s overreach. For example, when the FBI director was asked whether the Bureau was purchasing Americans’ location data from commercial entities without a warrant to obtain their information.
Wray refused to, or could not, answer the question and instead told lawmakers he’d need to have his staff “follow up.” However, Wray did admit that the FBI had bought data on Americans from private companies in the past but claimed that data was no longer being used. “It gets very involved,” Wray tried reasoning as he evaded answering the question.
Even while admitting that the FBI obtains bank records for Americans and has purchased location data without warrants, Wray couldn’t be bothered to express any concern about the rights of Americans he’s sworn to protect.
Wray refused to condemn or admit any wrongdoing in the Bureau’s handling of the overkill raid conducted on Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck — a man who was acquitted by a jury — for what the government said was a violation of federal law. Wray, instead, defended the FBI’s decision to raid his Pennsylvania home, insisting the FBI “did not storm his house” in its raid.
It remains true that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When the guardrails of due process and impartiality are discarded, the power wielded by the likes of FBI Director Chris Wray becomes a weapon of mass corruption.
